A ten-week-old tiger cub at London zoo has died after struggling mysterious seizures that baffled veterinarians.

In a press release launched on February 25, Kathryn England, chief working officer at London Zoo, mentioned the cub—Loki—had suffered a number of unexplained seizures, "every worse than the final."

The cub was going through "an more and more restricted high quality of life" main vets to take the "heart-breaking" determination to euthanize him, the assertion mentioned.

The uncommon Sumatran tiger cub was born in December to 10-year-old Gaysha. Loki was born almost a yr to the day Gaysha arrived on the zoo from Denmark. Sumatran tigers are a critically endangered species. They're the rarest subspecies of tiger on the planet and there could also be as little as 400 remaining within the wild.

Loki had proven no prior indicators of sickness earlier than struggling his first seizure on February 18. The zoo mentioned he had been enjoying simply hours earlier than. The cub was rushed to a veterinary hospital and appeared higher after receiving antibiotics. Veterinarians ran assessments to find out the trigger however the outcomes have been inconclusive.

Whereas beneath 24/7 monitoring, zookeepers grew involved when Loki appeared torpid, with little urge for food.

He was as soon as once more rushed to the hospital for extra assessments. Late on February 20, he suffered two extra seizures.

Loki went for an emergency MRI on February 22, the place as soon as once more, there was no "apparent trigger" for what had triggered the seizures.

Tiger
The tiger cub was born in December and had proven no indicators of sickness earlier than his first seizure. ZSL London Zoo

When again in his enclosure, the cub loved a day along with his mom the place there was no signal of any additional seizures.

However "devastatingly," the zoo mentioned, he then suffered a much more severe seizure confirming "the vets' worst fears."

"Loki's suits weren't going to cease and his well being would solely decline," the zoo mentioned. "We left no stone unturned. By way of our assessments we dominated out so many issues; a mind tumor, infections, parasites – frustratingly we nonetheless had no solutions. We have been contemplating a presumptive analysis of epilepsy – one thing that may solely be confirmed by a strategy of eliminating all different potentialities."

The cub was euthanized on February 24.

Tigers have been recognized to endure seizures earlier than, however it's uncommon at a younger age. It might typically be right down to tapeworm infections, neurological circumstances, or epilepsy.

Vets will proceed efforts to know Loki's situation and perform a autopsy analysis, England mentioned. The outcomes might be shared with different zoos, in hopes it's going to give them a greater understanding of the critically endangered species.

"We had all fallen in love with little Loki and know that a lot of you had too. We want we had completely different information for you however are so comforted by the outpouring of kindness and compassion you've got proven us already this week," England mentioned.